Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Crab, Artichoke and Potato Croquettes – Three of my favorites go Dutch

The croquette is originally a French concoction, but thanks to a Dutch baker named Kwekkeboom it was introduced to the Netherlands where it grew in popularity. He fell in love with the crisp French version, and began producing croquettes filled with beef and other meats and vegetables. In fact, Croquettes are so popular in the Netherlands that McDonalds sells a version in a bun: called the McKroket. No, I’m not Mc’Kidding.

This version is incredibly easy to make and you will love its crisp, crunchy outside and the soft, tasty inside. The secret to the crisp coating is the Panko Japanese breadcrumbs. You can get these at the supermarket, and they really make a big difference. If you can’t find them (well, quite frankly, you didn’t try hard enough), you can use regular plain breadcrumbs and still get a nice result.

There is no secret to the delectable filling inside; you take potato, crab and artichoke, smash it all together. Three ingredients that are certainly terrific alone really enjoy each others company in this satisfying recipe. Of course, you don’t have to keep your mix so simple; adding lemon, garlic, herbs, and/or other exotic spices wouldn’t be a bad idea at all.

We served this under our Olive Oil Poached Tuna, but it makes a great main course all by itself. You can even do small half-dollar size and serve them as passed appetizers at that swanky holiday party.




Ingredients:
1 large cooked russet potato
1 can artichoke bottoms (14 oz)
8 oz crab meat
1 egg
Salt, black pepper and cayenne to taste
olive oil
Panko or plain breadcrumbs
fresh lemon optional

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Chef John,

I really love the taste of Crab and Artichoke dip, but not the calories. So I added a little Old Bay seasoning, garlic, horseradish and Parmesan cheese to your mixture. I really enjoyed it without all the calories. Yum :)

Chef John said...

what did you leave out?

Anonymous said...

little snooty point. the Japanese would say "pAHnko", like "On" or "Olive" rather than "pAnko" like, well, "pan." maybe it's less fun that way

Chef John said...

That's my Shortsville, NY accent! I love when my viewers correct the way I say stuff, and also when they point out mistakes in me grammer. Thanks!

Sometimes I even do it on purpose so because they can comment then. :P

Chef John said...

no, i wasnt upset, i was serious about liking those kind of comments. Although I was kidding about the grammar part... i think I write and talk good enough gramaristically.

Chef John said...

oh, and the tallest guy, we just called him Stretch.

As far as shortest...there was a pretty short dude, I forget the name, i think he got into politics at one point.... oh yeah, it was Dennis Kucinich, who was old man Kucinich's kid.

Anonymous said...

I decided to bake the potato which allowed me time to go to the store and get some of the ingredients for this dish. I think next time I'll boil the potato as the final mix seemed on the dry side. I added some chopped cilantro I had on hand, about a half cups worth. I seasoned with salt, pepper, Old Bay, and Chipolte pepper. I made 6 croquettes, each the size of a small burger. We ate 2 of them last night, pan fried. They were quite good and my girlfriend liked them somewhat better than I did. For me, the interior just wasn't quite hot enough (I do like my food piping hot). We'll have two more tonight and I'm going to deep fry them instead.

Chef John said...

Sounds like a great version. And, of course, anything is good deep fried.

Anonymous said...

I liked this better deep-fried. It had a crunchier texture and was piping hot. One drawback though is the taste of the potato comes thru a bit more and the crab taste is lessened.

Chef John said...

as the great philosopher/chef once said, "life is a compromise"

Anonymous said...

Thanks for reminding me, Chef John, another scrumptious looking recipe :) I missed croquettes, especially the ones with the salmon, Southern cooking style, with some grits on the side..yummy !

Ann Marie said...

Mine fell apart. It was still good but looked more like crab hashbrowns. Would an extra egg or some milk help?

Chef John said...

egg yes, milk no. They are kind of delicate. I make sure the first side has a nice crust before carefully turning. Maybe cook longer on a lower heat for the first side.

shenzki said...

Hey Chef John,

I want to say thanks for all the wonderful and hard work you put into this site and I really enjoy watching your videos over and over again each day trying to imitate your cooking. I just finished trying your crab, potato, artichoke croquette and my first batch was more like nuggets than croquettes. I think it might have been to my misunderstanding of which weight to follow. For example, your recipe list says 14oz artichoke bottoms and and 8 oz crab meat. A can of artichoke bottoms and crabs has a net weight of 7.4 and 4.25. Do I go by the net weight or the overall weight? Thanks again and keep up the great videos and recipes.

Chef John said...

You need 1 can of crab and 1 can of artichoke. I don't know what the drained weights are, those are the can sizes 14 and 8. Use one of each can size.

Anonymous said...

hmmm i think you could make a sandwich with the crab cake
you could slice the avocado, put some garlic or roasted red pepper aioli on the bread and then put the crab cake in

mmmm... that sounds good i think i'm hungry now

Marion said...

Nope, no potato in Dutch 'kroketten'. Dutch kroketten (and it's small, round 'bitterballen', so called not because they are bitter but because they were served as snacks in bars to accompliment 'bitters', aka herbal/spiced alcohol) are basically deepfried gravy. You make a meat roux with bouillon and flour and some parsley, roll that in breadcrumbs and deepfry it. Gooey and delicious!